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Sunday, August 30, 2009

Cruise Through the Binnendieze

Den Bosch was founded on a delta area and recieved it's city rights in 1185. In order to protect itself against enemy attacks, a fortified city wall was built. Due to the relatively small area the wall enclosed, in the 14th century, another wall was built. This new wall enclosed the river branches into the city. The system of inner-city waterways is called the Binnendieze.

The town continued to expand, but for safety reasons, citizens weren't allowed to build outside of the city walls. Instead, they began to build over the waterways. 12 kms of waterways, 20 crossings, and more than 100 bridges made up the Binnendieze. In addition to being an important trade route, the Binnendieze was also used in leather, metal, and brewing industries and in households for drinking and cooking water and sewage. The importance of the Binnendieze began to decline in the early 1800s when a new canal through the city was dug.

Up until the 1960s, it was only being used as an open sewer and the city made the decision to fill in the waterways. That plan couldn't be immediately implemented due to the homes needing new sewage systems first, and luckily some people recognized the historical significance of the Binnendieze. Instead of being completely filled in, a vast restoration project began in 1973. It took 25 years and over 25 million euro to complete. Now 3.5 km of waterways remain.

All of this brings us to today, when Martijn and I decided to do the Historische route rondvaart (Historic route canal tour). More information on the tours can be found on the Kring Vrienden van 's Hertogenbosch website (in Dutch). I totally recommend doing this, I really enjoyed myself!

I hope you enjoyed this Sunday in My Someone Else's City! Click the link below to go to Unknown Mami's blog and see more!